Nobel Laureate economist Shiller: “In Turkey, the financial sector must grow through expansion”

The speakers of the ‘Conference on Finance for Sustainable Development’ organized by Şekerbank on June 17 were the Minister of Finance Mehmet Şimşek and Prof. Robert J. Shiller, Nobel Laureate in Economics, 2013.

27.06.2014

At the ‘Conference on Finance for Sustainable Development’ Şekerbank organized to celebrate its 60th anniversary, the bank hosted the Minister of Finance Mehmet Şimşek and Prof. Robert J. Shiller, Nobel Laureate in Economics and ‘sterling’ of the Yale University (the top academic rank at Yale). 

While the conference hosted by Şekerbank Chairman Hasan Basri Göktan was attended intensively by the business and finance circles, Prof. Shiller’s speech drew great interest. During his speech on financing of innovation and sustainable growth in banking, Prof. Shiller has delivered a comprehensive presentation about what can be done for a sustainable growth in Turkey by giving examples from different countries. Underlining that just like other countries Turkey also needs further expansion and development of the financial institutions and organizations within the scope of the economic growth program, Shiller mentioned Şekerbank’s innovations in the context of sustainable development. 

Şekerbank Chairman Göktan, on the other hand, stated that the role to be played by the financial sector in the next process is crucially important so that Turkey can achieve the sustainable growth, and emphasized that the social and environmental factors must be taken into account during the journey of the financial sector to growth. Saying that Şekerbank still preserves its mission based on sustainable growth it has adopted during it's establishment 60 years ago, Göktan stated that Şekerbank is model to be scrutinized and taken as an example in Turkey for its organizational and capital structures.


Şekerbank, which improves its establishment target of rural development and economic development based on savings, has hosted an important meeting. Held at Çırağan Palace, the speakers of the ‘Conference on Finance for Sustainable Development’ were the Minister of Finance Mehmet Şimşek and Prof. Robert J. Shiller, Nobel Laureate in Economics and ‘sterling’ of the Yale University (the top academic rank at Yale).

Hasan Basri Göktan: “Şekerbank’s establishment is an exemplary model”

During his inaugural speech for the ‘Conference on Finance for Sustainable Development’ organized by Şekerbank to celebrate its 60th anniversary, Şekerbank Chairman Hasan Basri Göktan said, “Founded 60 years ago in Anatolia with the savings of hundred thousands of cooperative member beet farmers to support agriculture and sugar industry, Şekerbank is an important model in Turkey's journey to development. Şekerbank’s organizational and capital structures constitute a model that must be scrutinized and taken as an example in Turkey, and it is important that the bank has been preserving its said quality for 60 years.

“We fulfill our establishment mission”

Pointing out the fact that Şekerbank was established in an era or insufficient capital accumulation to support the small-sized producers and facilitate the shift from a self-sufficient rural economy to market economy, Göktan also said: 

“Throughout all those 60 years since its establishment, Şekerbank has operated always for the same object. Şekerbank promotes the economic growth with its social, ecological and cultural dimensions; in other words, it finances the sustainable development. This banking understanding is the reflection of the rural-development-based economic development target, which is the determinant factor in the establishment of Şekerbank, to the present day. Today, we call that mission ‘the Community Banking’.”

“There are almost 15 million people in Turkey who has never met the banking services”

Accentuating that there are almost 15 million people in Turkey who has never met the banking services as revealed by the researches made, Göktan gave the following information: “In Anatolia, 55% of our women are out of the banking system, and this percentage is about 15% in big cities.”

“The financial sector has a crucial role in sustainable development”

Referring to the importance of both savings and the widespread distribution of loans in this context, Göktan continued as follows: 

“In conclusion, the role to be played by the financial sector in the next process is crucially important so that our country can achieve the sustainable growth. In order to reach a sustainable growth rate, it becomes more and more important for us to ensure an equal access for every segment to suitable financial resources and achieve the widespread distribution of both savings and loans. This reveals the importance of following a strategy considering also the social and environmental factors while growing in depth and scale for the financial sector.”

“We function as a bridge between the international financial institutions and the Anatolian producers.”

Expressing that Şekerbank preserves its initial goal adopted 60 years ago with the ‘Community Banking’ mission, Göktan said, “We are trying to enable the craftsmen, farmers and small-sized enterprises to access the financial resources even if they have never used banking services before, to ensure a production rise, to support them in their expenditures through energy efficiency investments at all levels, and to encourage widespread small savings. With this strategy that has quite high operational cost but also a moral return, we function as a bridge between the international financial institutions and the Anatolian producers”.

Prof. Robert Shiller: “In Turkey, the financial sector must grow through expansion”

The guest speaker of the conference, the American economist Prof. Robert James Shiller said the following during his speech titled "financing of innovation and sustainable growth in banking": “Modern finance is the primary leg of the rapid economic growth observed in developing countries for decades. The technology used in the financial sector is a very strong one. The subjects of finance are to support the realization of different economic goals, incentivize the actors of economy, provide resources, and ensure sustainability of the activities that take decades to be completed. Just like other countries, Turkey also needs further expansion and development of the financial institutions and organizations within the scope of the economic growth program. This expansion requires the financial institutions and organizations to become democratic and humanitarian, and thus, to access wider segments of the society.”

“No need to worry”

Prof. Shiller continued as follows: “Such a development requires an awareness of the potential problems observed in the global financial crisis continuing since 2008, but there is no need to worry a lot about such problems.” 

American economist Professor Robert James Shiller currently serves as a Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University. Ranked 79th out of 1,849 economists in the world who have made the most influential written contributions to the science of economy, Shiller is revered for his financial bubble foresights in the U.S. Prof. Shiller who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in the year 2013 for his "empirical analysis of asset prices" conducted together with Lars Peter Hansen and Eugene Fama is regarded as one of the most important economists of the world.

The book titled ‘60 years of Şekerbank’ sheds light on Turkey's economic history

During the ‘Conference on Finance for Sustainable Development’, the book prepared for the 60th anniversary of the bank was also introduced. Written by Assistant Professor Doctor Murat Koraltürk from the Faculty of Economics, Marmara University and edited by Dünya Gazetesi Lead Writer Osman Arolat, a doyen of economy journalism, this book narrates the history of Şekerbank that occupies a deep-rooted place in the social memory in parallel to Turkey's economic history. The book titled ‘60 years of Şekerbank: Our story, Turkey’s story’ sheds light on Turkey's economic and social development since the 1950s. The book is also an archive composed of testimonies of the important names who have served in Şekerbank from past to present.